


When Everything Stays

by Syntax



Series: Everything Stays [14]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Lullabies, Male Gimurei | Grima, Mentioned Alm - Freeform, Mentioned Azura - Freeform, Not Beta Read, Reference To Prior Installment, Young Tiki - Freeform, early book 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-09 11:09:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18915736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Syntax/pseuds/Syntax
Summary: Grima keeps watch with one of his fellow dragons in the forests outside Nifl.





	When Everything Stays

**Author's Note:**

> that's all folks

He was on a _mission._

It was exploratory, mostly. Soldiers from Muspell had attacked the Askran countryside and the summoner seemed convinced that the secret to stopping their commander was abroad. They were sending a team of heroes to investigate the border with Nifl before risking sending the royal siblings. Look for enemy soldiers, look for possible encampments, that sort of thing. They hadn't found much yet.

Still, a mission meant fighting, and fighting meant getting a chance to kill something, and after being pent up in the castle for so long Grima would take every chance he could get. It was why he was taking watch while his teammates slept.

Well.

That, and he was the only one who didn't need to sleep.

The other three heroes that the summoner had decided to send with him—Azura, Alm, and the child Tiki—were fast asleep in their bedrolls. They had no reason to fear him. The summoner had chosen this exact team to counter the fell dragon if he should turn against them.

It was actually kind of cute, to be honest.

His smaller form was perched on a rotting tree keeping watch at ground level while his larger self drifted among the clouds, out of sight from any would-be attackers. Having eight eyes to keep watch with was also why Grima was doing it instead of the mortals.

A small rustling from the camp behind him reached the fell dragon's ear. He paid it no mind. Mortals shift in their sleep all the time; if Grima turned over for every little noise then his neck would get sore. A few minutes passed in near-perfect silence as he scanned the woods for any sign of movement.

Then small arms wrapped around his waist from behind, and Grima had to bite his tongue to stifle a shout.

_"Bad dream......."_

"What?"

His smaller self looked down, a mess of green hair along his back and pale arms gripping his vessel's coat tightly. What on...?

Ah. Tiki.

"Can I help you?" Grima drawled.

The young manakete hugged him tighter. "Had a bad dream", came a quiet answer from somewhere in the middle of his back.

"And what do you want me to do about it?"

No answer. He sighed. One of his smaller self's arms reached around to Tiki's shoulder, giving it a little shake to try and dislodge the princess from his coat. "Come on, at least come around where I can see you."

It took a little coaxing, but eventually the smaller manakete was perched on the tree next to him, the thick tactician's coat unceremoniously draped around her shoulders after Grima had gotten tired of seeing her shiver. The fell dragon had thought her inner fire would keep her warm in the night air, but evidently not. No matter.

There weren't any words exchanged between the two manaketes aside from Tiki occasionally murmuring the name of whatever woodland animal that darted past them. At some point she fell over and curled up against the fell dragon's side, still looking out at the forest. She kept watch with him like that for maybe half an hour.

"You should probably go back to sleep," Grima said, mildly surprised at how soft his voice sounded. "Tomorrow may bring a fight."

"Okay..." came the mumbled reply. A small pair of green eyes looked back up at him. "Do you know any lullabies?"

...

Did he?

There was... No, not that one. Could he search his vessel's memories...? Or no, there was...

There was that melody the summoner favored.

He nodded. Tiki nodded back and shifted closer to him, gripping her borrowed coat tight. He had to brace a hand against her back to keep her from falling off the tree, but the child didn't seem to mind. She settled her head on his lap and closed her eyes, a contented smile on her face. Grima brought his eyes back to the forest and started humming.

_"Let's go in the garden..."_

**Author's Note:**

> hey, guess what? in just eight days from now, we'll hit the one year anniversary of this series being posted to archive of our own! i'd initially meant to release this final installment sooner, but uh. life. happened.
> 
> it's always been a dream of mine to create something that so many people loved, so if this series has been a highlight for you, let me know about it! i'd love to hear your thoughts on everything, or see any fanart if some of the stories in this series have inspired you to draw. i'd offer a username to tag these things with, but uhhhh my tumblr's not all that family friendly and my twitter is where i post my depression thoughts, so that's probably not the best idea. i guess just plop it in the comments or the regular grima tags? who knows! do what works for you if you choose to make anything at all.
> 
> i don't know what my next writing project will be, but i hope it'll be as fun as this one. i've got a lot of concepts listed out on my blog, and a lot floating around in my head that seem like they might be fun little side-projects. it might be transformers, it might be pokemon, or it might be more grima. until then, thank you for sharing this story with me, and i hope you all have a good night.


End file.
